DACC Reminder

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is the field trip to the Delaware Area Career Center (DACC). All sophomores who have registered for the field trip both by filling out the mandatory DACC preference form AND completing and turning in the field trip permission slip will be spending the day exploring the opportunities available at the Delaware Area Career Center.

We have a TON of students who will be making this trip! It will be a great day to investigate possible career paths, learn about the options available to earn elective credits while also learning practical, hands-on skills, and to see a really incredible school environment.

Tomorrow, after the visit, the application to be a student at DACC for next year will open. You will have until early January to be able to complete the application and be considered for a spot. The reality is that there will be far more students interested in going to DACC than there will be seats available. That is just one of the challenges with DACC being a partner with so many different school districts - lots of students are going to be hoping for the same seats. But you have to apply to give yourself a chance. 

If you missed out on the opportunity to go on tomorrow's field trip and still want to have a chance to explore DACC for your future, there are options. On December 9th DACC will host a Senior Only 1-year Program Open House event. On December 11th DACC will host a general Open House for all of the traditional 2-year programs. And on December 12th DACC will host Group Family Tours. You can learn more about all 3 of these options on the DACC website in their events section and register for those you are interested in completing.

**Just a reminder, this post is also being shared on the NEW WKHS Counselor blog. This blog site will no longer be active beyond 2025 so you can transition to receive all blog posts emailed directly to you by subscribing to the new blog site.**

Countdown to Exams

The countdown is on... you have just 16 days of school left before semester exams begin. That means that you have 16 school days left in the 2nd quarter. 16 days to make sure your quarter grades are where they need to be prior to exams.  And yes, while I *know* some (or maybe all) of you don't want to hear this, with only 16 days left, it is also REALLY important that you start studying for exams. 

Please take a critical look at where you stand in each of your classes and what you need to do to finish out the quarter and begin fully preparing for exams. If your grades are not where they should be at this point in time, please make use of the resources available to you each day - the academic assistants in room 205 and, most importantly, your teachers. I am also here to help you with studying strategies and tips if needed. For many students, your final grade for the semester will come down to how you finish out this quarter and how well you do on semester exams. Please don't neglect this opportunity to make the most of your remaining time.

College Decision Terms

We are in the earliest stages of college application decisions to start coming back. I wanted to make sure you knew some of the terms you might see in your decision notifications. If you receive an email or letter and are uncertain what it means, please feel free to let me know or to contact the college directly.

- Accepted: Congratulations - they are inviting you to join and be a part of their college/ university!

- Declined/ Rejected/ Not Accepted: For whatever reason the college did not feel that you would be a good fit. While it is understandably disappointing, please remember that there are lots of colleges and universities out there so don’t give up on finding a good match.

- Decision Deferred: The college is not sure yet… usually they will tell you what additional data/ information they are interested in receiving to help them make their decision. The most common piece of data they will look for are senior year grades at the semester time.

- Wait List: The wait list is not a denial, but it is not an acceptance either. Colleges use wait lists as insurance to make sure that their freshman class will be the appropriate size. If enough students decide to attend, the college will not accept anyone off of their wait-list.  We will talk more about wait lists later in the spring because this is a common response students will receive a bit later in the application season.

One of the realities of the college admission process is that not every student will be accepted to every college. Please remember that this is NOT a reflection of your worth, potential or ability to be successful in the future!

**Just a reminder, this post is also being shared on the NEW WKHS Counselor blog. This blog site will no longer be active beyond 2025 so you can transition to receive all blog posts emailed directly to you by subscribing to the new blog site.**

Homework

Completing homework can be a challenge for some students. Homework has value because it is practice. Your teachers are not assigning homework to you just because they think it is fun. They are trying to extend your learning to make sure you know and understand the concepts being covered in class. Being able to spend your time learning and fully understanding the material is worth the investment of your time and energy.

So let's talk for a second about those top reasons students often give about why they haven't been doing their work...

- I'll do it the next day... Saving your work to finish during academic prep or lunch sounds like a viable option, but if you have been saving your work for then and it isn't getting done then it is time to rethink your approach. Getting through the work rather than having it hang over your head will take away the pressure and allow you to feel the success of having your work completed.

- It really isn't that important... I get it - in some of your classes homework is weighted really low compared to other assignments or tests and so it doesn't always feel as if the work is worthwhile, but here is the reality - Every Point Matters! Especially if your grades aren't where you want them to be.  But think about it for a moment. If homework is worth 10% of your grade and you don't do it then you're already starting with a 90% in your class and the only way you could earn a 90% would be if you get a perfect score on every other assignment outside of your homework. And, let's be honest, if you aren't doing the homework to practice and develop a deeper understanding of the material, then it isn't realistic that you will be able to earn a perfect score on all of your other classwork and tests.

- You forgot about the work... time to get organized and keep a planner or use an app for tracking your assignments. Your head is the place to think - not the best place to try to keep track of all of your work that needs to be done. This is especially the case when you take into consideration all of the long-term assignments and projects which you have to keep track of throughout the year.

The reality is for some students you may be struggling with homework because you try, but aren't sure about what to do. If that describes you, then I need to stress the importance of doing the best that you can on what you know and then using your academic prep, lunch or before/ after school time to meet with your teacher or the academic assistants to ask questions to make sure you learn and understand the material. I actually see this struggle as a possible strength because if you are trying the assignments and are able to seek help to learn the specific compoentns that you weren't sure about then you will have a much richer understanding of the material than anyone who didn't even attempt the work in the first place.

I know homework can be frustrating. I know you have other things happening in your life that can make dedicating the time to complete work a challenge. But school is your job. You need to maximize your learning and take care of this responsibility by doing your homework on a regular basis so that you don't fall behind and then have to dig out of a hole. I am confident if you do, you will see the reward in your grade and most importantly in your learning and understanding of the material. 

**Just a reminder, this post is also being shared on the NEW WKHS Counselor blog. This blog site will no longer be active beyond 2025 so you can transition to receive all blog posts emailed directly to you by subscribing to the new blog site.**

FAFSA - For me?

Every year there are senior students or their families who question if they should actually fill out the FAFSA since they "know" that they will not qualify for need based aid. And the reality is if you are in that situation it is very tempting to just skip doing the FAFSA, but we would still strongly encourage you to complete it!

Why?

Because the colleges tell us there are lots of reasons that families should fill out the FAFSA no matter what. Here are a few of those reasons:

1. Some colleges award a FAFSA filing grant. (Grants are similar to scholarships in that you don't have to pay them back. So that is free money for filling out the FAFSA.)
2. There are scholarships that will only be considered after a student has completed the FAFSA in order for a student to be eligible for them.
3. Circumstances can change. Having a FAFSA on file allows for the financial aid offices to be able to help students pivot with a faster process if something bad happens such as a parent loses a job and can no longer cover the college costs as anticipated.
4. It allows for students/ families to have the option of taking out student loans if needed. (Which could be just because you don't have the money on hand to pay or because of those changed circumstances mentioned above in #2.)
5. Having a FAFSA on file signals to financial aid offices that the family is interested in aid (need or merit). That tells colleges that this is not a "cost doesn't matter at all" scenario.

The colleges have said repeatedly that they understand that there will be families who fill out the FAFSA and have a high SAI, but just because you never know what now or the future holds, they still recommend you fill it out and therefore, we also recommend you fill it out too.

**Just a reminder, this post is also being shared on the NEW WKHS Counselor blog. This blog site will no longer be active beyond 2025 so you can transition to receive all blog posts emailed directly to you by subscribing to the new blog site.**

UD Sinclair Academy

For some students, they know that they want to start at a 2 year college. But, at the same time, they also struggle because due to personal preference or home dynamics they really want to live in a college dorm. This combination is definitely not unique... but it is a challenge. Most 2-year colleges, like Columbus State, do not have dorms as an option.

When we were at the National Association of College Admissions Counselors conference earlier this fall we learned about a unique partnership between the University of Dayton and Sinclair Community College. Called the UD Sinclair Academy, the 2 colleges have partnered together to allow students who want to start at Sinclair Community College before eventually transferring to the University of Dayton to live in the dorms at the University of Dayton while attending Sinclair. Meaning that if the University of Dayton is a 4-year college you would love to attend, this partnership program may make the option of living in a dorm while attending Sinclair Community College a possibility. 

It is a cool opportunity and I loved learning about the efforts that these two colleges are taking to help meet an identified need for many students.

CSS Profile

Hopefully you are making good progress on your FAFSA, but I wanted to be sure to remind you that you need to look at your desired colleges closely to see what their financial aid requirements include.

At some of the more competitive colleges - particularly those who cover all of demonstrated need for students, in addition to requiring the FAFSA, many of those colleges will also require that students and families will submit the CSS profile.  The FAFSA helps colleges determine federal aid, but the CSS profile helps colleges determine institutional aid.  The CSS profile typically asks for a lot more detailed information from families than the FAFSA does.  And while the FAFSA is free to complete, there are fees associated with the CSS profile, but fee waivers are also offered.

Usually this is a topic students figure out as they are going through the whole financial aid application process and the CSS profile is just another step in that process, but we wanted to encourage you to double check if your intended colleges are requiring the CSS profile and to watch your deadlines closely so that you don't miss them.

Here is a link to an article about completing the CSS Profile.

As always, feel free to stop and see us if you have any questions about the CSS profile requirements.